November 10, 2004

To the Editor of The Daily Progress:

On October 21st Charlottesville City Councilman Rob Schilling entered Venable School and photographed a mural that the students in Ms. Shook's second-grade class made as part of an art project on "Community." The mural, which was hanging in the school's first-floor hallway, featured eighteen panels - one for each student in the class. On one of the mural's panels, a student-artist had pasted a picture of President Bush and drawn an "X" through it. (The mural was made, of course, on the eve of the recent election.) That panel, apparently, is what piqued Mr. Schilling's sudden interest in the classroom activities of our city's second graders.

Without endeavoring to speak with the students who made the mural and without endeavoring to contact Ms. Shook, Mr. Jarrell (the principal of Venable School), or the parents who volunteered to help the children with this project, Mr. Schilling sent a photograph of the offending mural to members of the School Board. In an email that accompanied the photograph, Mr. Schilling objected to the mural and demanded that it be taken down. The next morning, school administrators complied with his request.

Fortunately, parents at Venable School are familiar with the Bill of Rights. When a group of us objected to the suppression of our children's constitutionally protected right of free speech, school administrators realized they had erred by succumbing to pressure from an elected politician, and hung the mural back up.

The City Council should reprimand Mr. Schilling for treating the staff at Venable School with disrespect and for using his office to suppress the constitutional rights of our children. The Council may also wish to consider implementing a rule that no politician shall be allowed to take office in the City prior to having read and understood Article 1 of the federal and state constitutions.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey J. Rossman (electronic mail, November 22, 2004)

Editor's Note: Jeff Rossman read his letter to the Charlottesville City Council on November 15, 2004.

See also, Totally Crossed Out.